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Taking a 600 euro minivan to Kurdistan and back

March 12, 2014

Beniamino Calchera, a 32-year-old architect from Frankfurt, had just quit his job and bought a modest vehicle: a 1995 Renault Espace, in that teal color worn by every car of the mid-'90s. The seller cut him a deal: 600 euros, or around $831 -- it's worth noting that the quality of sub-$1000 cars in Europe is far more elevated than here in the States. The humble minivan on aftermarket five-spoke wheels didn't leak oil, it fit plenty of luggage and its air conditioning worked. Calchera fixed a side mirror and outfitted the rig with a hot plate. Halfway to a Westfalia!

"Summer in Germany is usually not as it's written in the dictionary," Calchera said. We imagine that translates to something along the lines of humid, cloudy and miserable. So Calchera, with some friends and a group of Turkish girls he knew from his previous job, decided to drive in search of sunnier weather. (Consider the following a condensed version of the journey; all of his photos and commentary can be found at this link.)

First they traveled to northern Italy, where they spent three days hiking before wandering farther south. Between Bologna and Florence, the Espace had its first breakdown -- on the Autostrada, naturally, on the hottest day of the year. "The connector of the radiator fan had melted," he said. "After I fixed that, the car never got hot again." Then it was down through Rome and along the Amalfi Coast, stopping in Pompeii to check out the amphitheater (of, among others, Pink Floyd fame). "The area between the coasts was eerily barren and covered in golden-brown dust," he said. Sailing across the Adriatic Sea through a thunderstorm and into Dubrovnik, Croatia, they made camp for a few days between the fig and olive trees.

After rolling into Bosnia, Calchera -- his group swelling after meeting up with two local friends -- needed to arrive at the city of Mostar by nightfall. Despite stopping for a picnic by a river, the group made it into town by afternoon. They drove into the chaos of Montenegro, where, "On some intersections, you have Golfs coming at you from every way possible." Into Macedonia, through Albania, past Enver Hoxha's bunkers and toward the occasional chance campground, "With fresh trout and outdoor seating amidst the ponds." Calchera, apparently a man of few words, describes it as "great."

In Greece, they stopped for a hike in the deepest gorge in the world, which thoroughly wiped them out. They boarded the ferry in Athens, which delivered them to Turkey and, eventually, into Kurdistan.

Balloons over Kapadokya. Photo by Beniamino Calchera

Every morning in Cappadocia, Turkey, hot-air balloons rise over the rock formations that resemble minarets shooting up into the sky. For 150 euros, a balloon will take you up over the valley, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, its remnants of the Byzantine Empire nestled within the caves. The area has attracted hot-air balloonists since the 1700s; the wind -- the natural force that wears down the rocks -- makes it perfect for catching the sunrise from 1,000 feet up.

Outside Cappadocia, they had honey straight from the beehive, and a local offered to put them up for the night. In Asia Minor, they discovered ancient mosaics and frescoes, some of which had been flooded by nearby Atatürk Dam. In Şanlıurfa, awfully close to the Syrian border, the legend goes that the prophet Abraham was born in a cave; the biblical king Nimrod attempted to sacrifice Abraham by burning him at the stake, but God intervened by turning the fire into water and the coals into fish. The Balikli Göl, or "Pool of Sacred Fish," is the result. By the banks of the river Tigris, in the cradle of civilization, they came across the Turkish city of Batman. Underneath Mount Ararat, they found a puppy, freezing in the cold, and they brought it along, a welcome companion.

Calchera started driving on the first of August; by the time he had reached northern Turkey, it was Nov. 10. The Espace survived the journey, but it did not make it unscathed. Somewhere in Bari, Italy, on the way to the ferry across the Adriatic Sea, the Espace had a window smashed; nothing was stolen. Near the ruins of Knidos in Turkey, a spring gave way; within an hour, a dedicated garage sourced something to fit it. The Espace did a bit of off-roading in Turkey, all the better to visit the otherworldly caves dug through solid rock. Roads that were paved on the map weren't in reality. The windshield washers stopped working. The puppy peed on the carpets.

"Being able to just get in a car and eventually ending up in Kurdistan and Mesopotamia or at the Iranian and Armenian boarder is almost mind-blowing," Calchera said. "Even so when it's a 600 euro French car you just bought a few days before and which had to carry six people and luggage over appalling pavements and gravel roads."

Where to next? Anywhere, Calchera muses: maybe India or Nepal. "Yes, a bit mad," he says of his exploits, "But if I had the money, I would just start all over again this evening."

Beni and friends pose for a photo on the way to Athens. Photo by Beniamino Calchera

Blake Z. Rong
- Associate editor Blake Z. Rong has been with Autoweek since 2012 as an Associate Editor in Los Angeles. He drove his Mazda Miata across the country and believes that no man needs a car any larger or faster. Well, ok, faster, certainly.
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